The Taj Mahal

We are now in Agra, home to the Taj Mahal. In the last few days we have seen some of the most impressive sights of the trip. The Mughals, who invaded India in the 16th century, left amazingly impressive momuments in this region. Yesterday we visited the Fatehpur Sikri, a sandstone palace and mosque built in the 16th century as the 3rd Mughal ruler Akbar ruled from that area. We then ate lunch at our hotel, which had spectacular views of the Taj Mahal before heading to Agra Fort. In the early 16th century, Mughals captured this originally Rajput (Rajasthani warrior rulers) fort and built over it with red sandstone, enclosing this city capital with a 2.5 km long wall. It was here that Shah Jahan, builder of the Taj Mahal and 5th ruler of the Mughals, was imprisoned by his son Aurangzeb, who also killed his two older brothers in order to take control of the throne.
In the evening, we watched the sun set at the Taj Mahal along with thousands of other tourists. The Taj Mahal is an amazing structure and it has been carefully maintained over the last 400 years. Built from white marble and inlaid with precious and semi-precious stones, this gigantic monument to love appears to float in the sky. In 1631 Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal as a tomb for his 3rd wife Mumtaz Mahal, who died during the birth of their fourteenth child. To show his deep love for his favorite wife, he built this marble mausoleum to honor her. Shah Jahan said that "Should guilty seek asylum here, like one pardoned, he becomes free from sin. Should a sinner make his way to this mansion, all his past sins are to be washed away. The sight of this mansion creates sorrowing sighs; and the sun and the moon shed tears from their eyes. In this world this edifice has been made; to display thereby the creator's glory."
This morning we returned to the Taj Mahal at sun rise when it looked the most beautiful. Being only a a handful of tourists willing to get up so early, we had the whole Mahal to ourselves. After a visit to Akbar's tomb in the afternoon, we had a tearful goodbye with Andy and Leslie. Their visit has without a doubt been the best highlight of our trip so far and we were so happy to create amazing memories with them. We will definitely miss them and hope they have safe travels. As they drive off to Delhi to catch a plane to New York, we are getting on a 24-hour train to Hyderabad in the state of Andra Pradesh.